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Elements (read for Digi-Scrap chat!!)

Okay,, this thread is to help those coming to my chat Thursday and to help me as I can refer to it during the chat and keep up with what I am talking about.

Embellishments. Besides the fact that you can add all different types to your layouts ranging from one or two,, to a couple dozen,, guess what? There are at least 4 dozen different types as well. I know a lot of people are using ACDsee and it's a great tool to organize your stash of digital scrapbooking items. But by the time I had learned about ACDsee I had already organized my stash this way and I have at least 23 gigs worth of digital products so I wasn't going to start over! If you are a newbie and start organizing with ACDsee right away absolutely,, it's a fabulous tool to use. If you are a newbie and don't want to purchase another program then you can try this method. Oh, one thing to remember,, I have a 160gig external hard drive so I have tons of space to organize my items this way.

First of all. All of my recently purchased items stay on my laptops hard drive for at least a month. Depends on how much I create and how much I purchase. Usually I have enough to burn a dvd at the end of each month, if it's not a huge amount I save using an extra dvd and burn at the end of the next month. It depends,, you have to play with that sometimes. Some people make it a rule to burn all pictures, layouts and new digi-scrap items at the end of each month onto cd or dvd. That's up to each persons own preference. It would save you a large headache though if something happens to your hard drive.

So organizing your stash. On my external hard drive (or this can be your regular hard drive) I have a folder named "Scrap Downloads". Inside I have 16 folders. They are named as follows:

Actions

Alphas

Brushes

Doodles and Shapes

Elements

Kits (full)

Kits (mini)

Layered templates (templates, speedbytes, sketch templates, designers tend to call these by lots of different names)

Overlays

Paper packs

Paper templates (I have this one for designing paper for the store you all probably won't have this one)

Papers solids (cause I have enough of them to justify making a separate folder for them, you might want to keep them in the paper packs folder)

Premade albums (quickpages)

Scraplifts (where I save thumbnails of layouts I want to scraplift)

Shape templates (you may or may not have any)

Sketches (before layered templates there were sketches, flattened examples of a page)

Okay,, got that! I know it's a lot to take in,, wait we are only getting started!

The biggest part of this project is sorting. When I sorted my stuff originally it was 18 gigs worth. It took me three days to do it. Thank goodness I was off from work those days. I was determined to NOT scrap till it was done so I HAD to finish.

So in the above mentioned folders you see Elements, Kits (full), kits (mini) and paper packs. Anything I bought that was only a paper pack went in that folder. Mini kits went into mini kits folder. Larger full kits went into the Kits (full) folder. Now where do I get the Elements folder from. Well, obviously any element pack would go in this folder. Any elements from a mini-kit or full kit would also go in there. Yes that means that on my external hard drive I have doubles of items. I know, I know,, the space I am taking up. But it gives me the option of looking at an entire kit together in one folder if I want to use only that kit for a layout,,, OR,, it gives me the option of looking in my elements folder at literally hundreds of elements and picking out all different ones to mix and match.

So when I open my elements folder it looks like this:

Now that view is only a small view of the folders inside. I actually have 52 folders inside my elements folder. YES,, you've read that right,, 52. Don't panic!!!! it's okay. you may not have as nearly as many elements as I have. Besides I have also done things like take all my staples and made a folder just for them because I have so many different types. But most people would keep their staples inside the "fasteners" folder. They could also be kept inside the "metals" folder. This isn't anything written in stone,, it's a guideline to work with. I learned this from another designer and then adapted it to meet my needs. Same thing for all of you. Take it one step at a time and see what you will need. If it means taking a piece of paper out and writing it down by all means do so.

Now the folders. Okay,, deep breath,, here we go:

Beads and crystals (bling)

Binder clips

Bookplates

bows and tag toppers

brads

buckles and slides

buttons

charms

chenille, assorted

coasters

dated items (like pngs that look like date stamps but aren't brushes)

decorative patches

envelope ties

envelopes

fabric, assorted

fasteners (misc)

felt, assorted

fibers and strings

file tabs

flowers

frames

glitter accents

journaling pieces

labels - fabric

labels - paper

lace

metals

misc (good god with all these folders do you know I actually STILL have stuff in this one)

negative strips and polaroids

paint accents

paper piercings

paper tears

photo corners

photo frames and borders

photo prongs

ribbons

ric rac

sequins

shadow boxes

stamps

stapled ribbons

staples

stitches

swirls and scrolls

tags

tape

tape measures

tickets

trims

twill pieces

words and words art

zippers

Are you all still with me??? or did you give up. Please,, please, don't give up.

I am extremely obsessive and that is why I separated them down into so many categories. I know that there are several folders that can be combined together,, for example ribbons and ric rac in reality could be together. Again NEVER hesitate to change this and make your own arrangement. Do what works best for you.

So,, I am going to end this thread here. I fear that if I go any further you will all fall to the floor dizzy! Read it over. See how it could work with your Digi-Scrap stash and join me Thursday night in the chat room at 9pm. and we'll discuss it all. Options, variations,,, and all the questions I am sure you all have now that I confused the heck out of you all!

I would like to thank you Tara, for taking the time to write all of this up for our benefit. For me personally, I found it EXTREMELY helpful. Especially, the way that you listed all of the folders that you have for your elements, like you said, it gives me a guideline to start my organizing.....and I needed that guideline very much!!

I reeeally hope to remember to make it to chat tomorrow night....i'll have to tie a string to my finger or something.....

I like your organization. So far, I have several categories under embellishments, but I haven't gotten them down to sub-categories like I want them. That is on my someday list. I still need to get lots of downloads out of my holding file and into categories in my supplies file so I can at least have a chance at finding them. See you at the Chat tomorrow.

Do you think I'm crazy for printing all my kits out or do you think I should do it like you have Tara? What are the pro's and con's. If you don't have time to answer, I'll wait until tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

Do you think I'm crazy for printing all my kits out or do you think I should do it like you have Tara? What are the pro's and con's. If you don't have time to answer, I'll wait until tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

Cherry, I print all of mine, too. I like to keep kits together because I like to at least start with matching stuff from one kit. Then if I want to mix and match from other kits I can still go through my binders and find whatever I am looking for. I *do*, however, want to create some sort of indexing system (with the type of item, subcatagory, color, kit and designer name, and which DVD that kit is on) on my computer so I can easily find a red flower if needed or find a kit by a specific designer.